Jets damaged in Stansted collision

Two Ryanair planes have been damaged in a collision at one of the country's busiest airports.

Passengers faced delays of up to three hours after a Warsaw-bound plane and an aircraft from Frankfurt Hahn that had just landed, collided in the parking area of Stansted Airport at about 6.45am.

The crash occurred when the wing tip of one plane and the tail cone of another "made contact", Ryanair said.

Essex Police said routine breath tests on both pilots returned zero readings and no one was hurt.

Both of the planes were Boeing 737-800 models, which can carry up to 189 passengers, a Ryanair spokesman confirmed.

One passenger on the Warsaw-bound flight said on Twitter: "Huge loud crashing noise and totally felt the crush sitting at the back. Thank God it only hit the wing as if it was the body of the plane it'd been apocalypse."

Ryanair spokesman Robin Kiely said: " This morning at London Stansted the wing tip and tail cone of two Ryanair aircraft made contact while one aircraft was taxiing to stand and the other was commencing pushback from stand.

"Customers were disembarked and boarded two replacement aircraft which departed Stansted with a delay of approximately three hours.

"Our Stansted based engineering team are currently investigating and will repair both aircraft and return them to service as soon as possible.

"Ryanair sincerely apologises to affected customers for any inconvenience."

Stansted airport spokesman Chris Wiggan said: " We can confirm two aircraft were involved in a minor collision while on the ground at Stansted this morning. Both planes suffered some damage but there were no reported injuries to passengers or crew.

"The airport is operating as normal while an Air Accident Investigation Branch investigation takes place.

"Passengers from the outbound flight were offloaded onto an alternative aircraft to continue their journey."

An Essex police spokesman said: "Two Ryanair aircraft struck each other on the ground at Stansted Airport shortly before 7am on Saturday.

"Officers from Essex Police carried out routine breath tests on both pilots who returned zero readings.